WWII Archives

WWII

World War II Books for June 2023

By Christopher Miskimon

Full Reviews

To the End of the Earth: The US Army and the Downfall of Japan, 1945 (John C. Read more

In this painting by artist Larry Selman, PT-109 streaks across the waters adjacent to the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomons. PT-109 was cut in half during a collision with the Japanese destroyer Amagiri.

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John F. Kennedy and PT-109

By John J. Domagalski

The celebrated life of President John F. Kennedy has been recounted many times in the decades since he assumed the highest office in the land. Read more

On the morning of December 7, 1941, a U.S. Army Air Force B-17 bomber seeks a place to land after flying into the midst of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and other military installations on the island of Oahu. A flight of 12 B-17s—in transit from California to the Philippines—had taken off from Hamilton Field the previous evening for the 14-hour night flight.

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Lieutenant Commander Shigeru Itaya, sitting in his gray Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero, led two other fighters on another strafing run on the parking ramps and hangars of Hickam Army Air Base on Oahu. Read more

Major Charity Adams and Captain Abbie Campbell inspect the ranks of the 6888th Central Postal Battalion in England. The WACs of the battalion were proud of their service record in Europe.

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Tyler Perry, Netflix present the story of the all-Black, all-female 6888th Postal Battalion in World War II.

Actor and filmmaker Tyler Perry knows a great story when he comes across one. And when he read Kevin Hymel’s dramatic narrative of the 6888th Central Postal Battalion in the pages of WWII History magazine, he knew it was something special. Read more

A camouflaged half-track playing the role of a tank destroyer pauses in the blistering desert heat of the American West during maneuvers. Desert training in the United States was intended to prepare American soldiers for the hardships of combat in North Africa.

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Company B’s Tunisian Adventure

By Christopher Miskimon

For the United States Army, the long road to Germany began in the mountainous deserts of Tunisia in mid-November 1942. Read more

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Duel in the Desert: Operation Crusade’s Battle of Bardia

By Allyn Vannoy

The desert sky lit up like a summer lightning storm on the night of December 31, 1941. The distant thunder of hundreds of guns rolled across the sandy, stony ground. Read more

A pitiful Buchenwald inmate lifts a food bowl to his frail mouth, hardly seeming to comprehend that freedom has come at last. For many, the end of the nightmare had come too late.

WWII

WWII Concentration Camps: The Horrific Discovery at Buchenwald

By Flint Whitlock

When Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933, the world changed forever.

Not only was Hitler determined to pay back Germany’s enemies for his country’s defeat during the Great War, but he was also determined to rid Germany and the rest of Europe of persons whom his twisted Aryan ideology believed were “inferior” or “subhuman.” Read more

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Julius Streicher, Der Sturmer, and Fueling the Nazi Propaganda Machine

By Blaine Taylor

It was May 23, 1945, roughly a year before the execution of Julius Streicher, founder and publisher of the vilest anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda of the war. Read more

A Navy corpsman gives a drink of water to a wounded Marine on the island of Guam in the Pacific. In addition to the thousands of casualties treated by U.S. Army medical personnel, the U.S. Navy also trained many for the war effort. (All photos: National Archives)

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The U.S. Army Medical Corps: Caring for the Casualties in World War II

By Glenn Barnett

For centuries wounded soldiers of every nation were responsible for much of their own care. Medical attention was primitive and often not a high priority for military planners beyond the officer corps. Read more

Some of the thousands of prisoners taken during the spring offensive of the Allied Fifth Army in Italy in 1945 gaze from behind a temporary enclosure of barbed wire. These were some of the lucky ones, as German casualties mounted during the last days of the war. (All photos: National Archives)

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In the Shadow of Sunrise: The Secret Surrender of Italy

By Dennis Whitehead

On the morning of Friday, April 13, 1945, three men gathered at a table in L’Espadon of the Ritz Paris over a breakfast of coffee and croissants. Read more

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The OSS and the Fourth Dimension of Warfare

By Bob Bergin

Major General John K. Singlaub was a young airborne lieutenant when he took up an offer from the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) to become engaged in “hazardous duty behind enemy lines.” Read more

In this bleak painting by American combat artist Mitchell Jamieson, members of a Naval Armed Guard contingent load and fire the forward deck gun aboard a merchant ship in pitching seas. (Naval Historical Center)

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Hazardous Duty with the Naval Armed Guard

By Russell Corder

They have been called “the other Navy,” the “Navy’s stepchildren,” and perhaps most fittingly, “the forgotten Navy.” Officially, however, they were the Naval Armed Guard or more simply the Armed Guard (AG). Read more

During the action at Surigao Strait, U.S. Navy PT boats engage Japanese warships intent on reaching the invasion beaches on the Philippine island of Leyte. This painting is by American combat artist Dwight Shepler. (Naval Historical Art)

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How the Battle of Surigao Strait Brought Revenge for Pearl Harbor

By David Alan Johnson

At 2:43 pm on October 24, 1944, one day before the Battle of Surigao Strait, Rear Admiral Jesse B. Read more

German POWs march to their barracks at a prison camp in the United States.

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Escape into Arizona’s Desert: German Prisoners in World War II

By Adam Lynch

On Christmas Eve, 1944, Colonel William Holden, commander of the prisoner of war camp at Phoenix, Arizona, suddenly lost all hope for a happy holiday. Read more

In the close quarters of a rubble-strewn street in Aachen, American soldiers fire a 57mm antitank weapon against a distant German target. Urban warfare became a new concept for Allied armies, and they adapted during the advance into Germany. (National Archives)

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The Battle of Aachen: Breaking Down the Door to Europe in WWII

By Flint Whitlock

By the autumn of 1944, German resistance in the West was quickly crumbling as the British and Americans approached the German border 233 days ahead of schedule. Read more

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The Rangers’ British Padre: Father Albert Basil

By Michael D. Hull

One day shortly after the Battle of El Guettar in central Tunisia in March 1943, Colonel William O. Read more

German war artist Bruno Muller-Linow painted this image of an Allied coastal convoy under fire from German forces somewhere in the European Theater. The Soviet ships evacuating Tallinn were ravaged by German aircraft, heavy guns, and mines. (U.S. Army Art)

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The Soviet Dunkirk: The Tallinn Offensive

By Victor J. Kamenir

Early in World War II, a bitter joke circulated within the Soviet military. It ran, “What is the first thing Russia does when war is declared? Read more

In this classic photograph, Brigadier General Orde Wingate is next to Brigadier Derek Tulloch at the far right. Majors Philip Cochran (back facing camera) and John Allison are on the left. Major Alison is holding a map with Brigadier Scott, who wrote an account of this informal gathering. Air Marshal Baldwin and Brigadier Michael Calvert stand between Scott and Wingate. (Imperial War Museum)

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British General Orde Wingate’s Blurred Legacy

By Jon Diamond

British General Orde Wingate is one of the more enigmatic World War II commanders encountered in a number of biographical and military historical accounts. Read more

Hitler speaks at the Burgerbraukeller three months before the nearly successful attempt on his life.

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Johann Georg Elser’s Treasonous Plot to Prevent World War II

By Blaine Taylor

At exactly 8 PM on November 8, 1939, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler strode briskly into Munich’s Burgerbraukeller beer hall at the head of his glowering entourage, brushing past a forest of hands raised in the Nazi salute. Read more

A Spitfire patrols the southern coast of England in April 1941.

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The Supermarine Spitfire

By William F. Floyd Jr.

On April 21, 1942, in action over Malta, Flight Lieutenant Denis Barnham of No. 601 Squadron was given credit for downing a German Junkers Ju-88 bomber and a Messerschmitt Bf-109 fighter. Read more

WWII

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